A can bomb exploded near an Army base in Holywood, Country Down, Northern Ireland, early Monday morning, forcing the evacuation of several homes, according to a Sky television report.

The Sky report said that blast seemed a have been timed to coincide with the precise moment that policing and justice powers devolved from the Parliament in Westminster to Stormont.

It happened at about 00:20 local time outside Palace Barracks, where MI5 has its Northern Ireland headquarters. A warning was given.

Security staff began evacuating the area just before midnight and then the bomb exploded. An elderly man was treated in hospital for minor injuries.

The bomb was placed in a taxi, which was hijacked in the Ligoniel area of west Belfast, about seven miles from Holywood, in the evening of Sunday.

Dissident republicans have been blamed for the attack.